16 votes

Look at this photo of Ursula von der Leyen’s new team – and tell me the EU doesn’t have a diversity problem

Posted by ignorabimus
Tags: politics, european union, geopolitics, presidents, ursula von der leyen, gender, race, politicians, hadja lahbib, opinion, author.shada islam, source.the guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/08/eu-ursula-von-der-leyen-diversity-recruitment

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Authors
Shada Islam
Published
Oct 8 2024
Word count
1084 words

6 comments

  1. [4]
    paintbox
    Link
    What percentage of EU population are PoC? What percent of them emigrated in the last 10 years? This article seems ridiculous.

    What percentage of EU population are PoC? What percent of them emigrated in the last 10 years? This article seems ridiculous.

    19 votes
    1. psi
      Link Parent
      From the article:

      From the article:

      The parliament, whose record on representing racial minorities has always been dismal, now counts only 20 MEPs of colour, equivalent to 2.8% of the overall total of 720 newly elected MEPs. That is down from 3.8% last time around – and when you consider the fact that people of colour make up at least 10% of EU citizens, it makes a mockery of the EU parliament’s claim to be the voice of European citizens.

      21 votes
    2. [2]
      ignorabimus
      Link Parent
      Sorry I don't totally know what you mean here?

      What percent of them emigrated in the last 10 years?

      Sorry I don't totally know what you mean here?

      7 votes
      1. whispersilk
        Link Parent
        I think they mean what percentage of the EU's PoC population has emigrated [from non-EU countries to EU countries] within the last decade. That is, how much of the EU's PoC population is "recent"...

        I think they mean what percentage of the EU's PoC population has emigrated [from non-EU countries to EU countries] within the last decade. That is, how much of the EU's PoC population is "recent" immigrants as opposed to people who have been EU residents for more than a decade.

        But that's just how I read the question and it's possible I'm wrong.

        9 votes
  2. ignorabimus
    Link

    Thanks to an unexpected twist of fate involving (very) complicated Belgian politics, Hadja Lahbib, Belgium’s foreign minister, could soon make history as the first ever EU commissioner who is also a person of colour.

    Blueprints like the commission’s “diversity and inclusion in the workplace action plan” and the five-year anti-racism action plan until 2025 need much stronger support from Von der Leyen and her team. But as with countering EU-wide racism, such top-tier backing is missing. It isn’t going to get easier as both the commission and the European parliament swerve even further to the political right – and xenophobic views percolate through the system.

    6 votes
  3. DiggWasCool
    Link
    Well, at least they look like they have some people who are younger than 50. At least some diversity there if nothing else.

    Well, at least they look like they have some people who are younger than 50. At least some diversity there if nothing else.

    1 vote